Report on the Library 



Sir : I have the honor to submit the following report on the activi- 

 ties of the Smitlisonian libraiy for the fiscal year ended June 30, 

 1955: 



The library owes its growth in strength and in the richness of its 

 collections primarily to the extension and continuity of its exchange 

 relations with scientific and other learned and cultural establishments 

 and societies throughout the world, and the larger number of the 

 71,179 publications recorded in the receiving room during the past 

 year came in exchange for Smithsonian publications. There were 

 654 new exchanges arranged, and 5,038 volumes and parts needed to 

 complete sets of serial publications were obtained by writing special 

 requests for them to the issuing agencies. 



The continuing generosity of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science and of the American Association of Museums 

 accounted for a very large number of the 24,801 pieces recorded as 

 gifts, but other organizations and more than 150 individual donors 

 sent gifts of important and much-appreciated books and periodicals 

 as well. 



The high cost and ever-rising prices of much-needed books and 

 journals not obtainable by exchange permitted the purchase of only 

 488 volumes and 419 periodical subscriptions this year. 



Additions to the Smithsonian Deposit at the Library of Congress 

 numbered 6,348 publications, chiefly volumes and parts of long-estab- 

 lished sets of serial publications issued by foreign institutions and 

 societies. Other current accessions sent to the Library of Congress 

 were 3,106 doctoral dissertations, mostly from European universities, 

 6,201 foreign and State documents, and 21,382 miscellaneous publica- 

 tions on subjects not immediately connected with the work of the 

 Institution. 



Because of their special subject interest to other agencies of the 

 Government, 5,133 incoming publications were transferred to their 

 respective libraries. Most of them went to the Armed Forces Med- 

 ical Library and to the libraries of the Geological Survey, the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, and the Naval Observatory. 



By the employment of part-time temporary helpers for a few weeks 

 during the summer good progress was made in putting the library's 

 large collection of duplicates in order. From among this newly ar- 

 ranged material the Library of Congress selected 38,906 pieces for 



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